NORTH CHARLESTON, SC. - The South Carolina Stingrays defeated the Greenville Swamp Rabbits 5-2 on Sunday afternoon in front of 5,000+ fans at the North Charleston Coliseum for the team’s Kids Takeover Game. Justin Nachbaur, Kyler Kupka, Charlie Combs, Tyler Weiss, and Alexander Suzdalev scored for the Stingrays, while goaltender Garin Bjorklund stopped 28 of 30 shots.
Greenville got the game’s first goal on the power play when Colton Young buried a one-timer from the slot to make it 1-0 Swamp Rabbits.
South Carolina tied the game 12 and a half minutes into the first period. Charlie Combs circled the offensive zone with the puck and got a shot away, which Dryden McKay denied. The rebound came out to Nachbaur, and the former Swamp Rabbit buried it for his fifth goal this season. Combs and Dean Loukus picked up the assists.
The Stingrays got the lead six minutes into the second period. After a breakout pass from Andrew Perrott to Josh Wilkins, Wilkins gained the zone and sent a no-look pass across to Kupka, who sent home a one-timer for his team-leading 18th goal of the season.
Greenville tied the game with 5:35 left to go in the middle frame. As the puck bounced around in front of Bjorklund, Young sent home a backhander for his second game goal to tie the contest at two.
The Stingrays got the lead back 15:52 into the middle frame. After initially hitting the crossbar, Combs received a pass from Perrott, entered the zone, and beat McKay to give South Carolina a 3-2 lead. Perrott picked up the only assist on Combs’ 11th of the season.
South Carolina picked up an insurance goal in the third period. Blake Thompson fed Combs for an odd-man rush for South Carolina, and Combs found Weiss on the other side of the ice. Weiss outwaited McKay and put a shot just over the goal line to make it 4-2. Thompson and Combs picked up the assists on Weiss’ ninth goal of the year.
South Carolina picked up an empty netter to make it a 5-2 game. Perrott and Bjorklund assisted Suzdalev’s eighth goal of the year.
The Stingrays’ next game will be Friday, January 24th, at 7:05 pm against the Florida Everblades at the North Charleston Coliseum.
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